Hold My Hand
by AnamariaJovel
Summary: ONE-SHOT: In a moment of love-stricken worry during the attack of Night Mare, Ladybug makes a horrible mistake, one that may cost Paris everything and let Hawkmoth win. It just may also cost her her partner and friend, Chat Noir. POST-REVEAL. LADYNOIR. ADRINETTE.


**A/N: Ok so this is a post-reveal one-shot a year in the future, since I'd already done two reveal fics so far… We have until May, so here's to filling the void with fanfiction and comics and fanart!**

"Morning, Marinette!" Adrien smiles to her as he takes his seat beside her. She smiles.

"Good morning, Adrien." She found that things were much easier in the communication department once she'd learned that Adrien and her partner in heroism Chat Noir were one in the same.

How'd she find out? Another story for another day.

What was present was that good friends had become better, and closer, since the reveal. They knew and understood the two halves to a whole, and Marinette could release her nervous energy at last, because just as she spoke to Chat, she could suddenly speak to Adrien.

Adrien still loved his Lady deeply, but for now they remained close friends and partners, until both of them had fully adjusted.

Sadly, in the new year, Alya and Nino were placed into a new classroom, so the core four was broken in the midst of the two's new and improved friendship. But they would make due, all the more time to get to know one another.

In what was once Marinette and Alya's bench the year before, sits a new boy, by himself, Connor.

He's been known so far as a sleeper, snoring lightly behind Marinette and Adrien almost every day, before class even began. Every time the duo tried to speak to him, in hopes of making a new friend, he was already long gone in sleep.

Ms. Mendeleiev was not taking any of it today, they quickly realized merely moments into class, as she stepped out from behind her desk, wielding a yard stick as a cane.

"Excuse me, Mr. Linux! It is not nap time," She nearly shouts, eyes narrowing. Connor grumbles, but doesn't stir.

She raises her yard stick, and Marinette flinches as she comes forward.

"Mr. Linux, this is a mathematics class not a study hall!" She continues, scraping at the floor with the ruler.

All students cover their ears at the infuriating sound, but still, Connor barely registers her voice, seemingly in a deep sleep.

"Connor." Her voice drops dangerously low, and she kneels down in front of the sleeping boy, tilting her head.

Marinette meets Adrien's eyes in shock.

"She's never used anyone's first name before…" She whispers to him.

" _To the office, now!_ " And finally, he begins to stir. Rubbing his eyes as he jolts up.

"Lunch is ready?" He asks groggily, earning a few giggles from the back of the class.

The teacher's steely look tells otherwise.

"You will no longer spend my class sleeping. To the Principal's office, Mr. Linux!" She commands.

His eyes widen, and he stands dejectedly, grabbing his bag and nearly running out of the classroom, with what looks to Adrien like fresh tears in his eyes.

After he's gone, Ms. Mendeleiev stands up, leaving the yard stick on his desk and returning over to her own.

Marinette and Adrien share a look. This was usually the kind of moment to occur before an Akuma attack, they knew.

But nothing occurs, and the period ends rather quietly.

Both of them stand from their seats synchronized.

"Should we check up on Connor?" Adrien whispers, taking her hand gently, and leading her out of the room as the blush creeps across her face.

"We should, but I really need to speak to Mr. Damocles. He offered to see me about starting up a new club." She frowns, feeling embarrassed. As savior of Paris, Connor really should be her priority right now, she knows.

"Its fine Marinette, I'll look for Connor while you speak with Mr. Damocles." He smiles lightly, easing her mood. "I'm sure everything will be fine, after all, usually we don't get through first period when something like this happens."

She nods.

"Alright, I'll see you later then. Hopefully Connor's alright."

She turns off, walking up to the principal's office. When she arrives moments later, she knocks lightly, to no response.

The door trickles open under her light push.

She peers in, and finds the principal, lying head down on his desk.

"Oh no." She rushes in, slamming the door shut behind her.

"Mr. Damocles? Can you hear me?" She panics, checking for a pulse.

As she gets closer she notices the light snoring.

Her eyes widen.

"He's…sleeping?" She pauses, "But-"

A scream cuts through the air.

"Connor's been akumatized."

…

In seconds Ladybug finds herself at the catwalk banister, surveying the scene below her.

Students lying in deep sleep in awkward positions, and a new villain floating among them.

He sits crossed legged on a cloud, facing away from her, with a nightgown draped over him, and spilling onto the ground below.

His entire appearance seems to fade in and out of vision, as if it's only a dazed apparition.

"Maybe that _is_ what he is. A ghost." She mutters under her breath, not at all expecting for him to turn to face her.

"Welcome Ladybug. Here to join my sleepover?" He cackles, and she can't help but stare at the sleep mask over his eyes, even though it seems he knows exactly where she is.

"Connor, you can't continue hurting these innocent people! Hawkmoth is using you," She tries, watching to his left as Chat Noir sneaks into view.

"My name is Night Mare!" His pale face flares red, "I will not be made a fool,"

And Chat's arm passes right through him.

"Hu-what?" He turns swiftly, Chat backing away, his eyes wide.

"Hold on there, Casper," He freezes.

Ladybug hops down from the perch, watching.

Chat's eyes meet hers for a millisecond, and suddenly she's facing Adrien. And suddenly she's rushing at Night Mare, yoyo swinging, as he aims for a sleeping spell.

"Wait, Ladybug!" She barely hears, and Night Mare faces her, a beam of magic slapping her in the heart, and she falls, out cold.

"NOOO!" Chat shouts, running up beside her, and kneeling.

He lifts one hand, her skin so cold he nearly drops it.

"Oops, I guess Ladybug was a bit tired of fighting me." Night Mare laughs behind them. "Guess you can't run from your Night Mare's after all,"

Chat glares at him, slowly realizing that without his Lady, he can't even stop the misery for anyone else. He cannot capture nor purify akumas. Without his Lady, _they've lost to Hawkmoth_.

"Why would you take the fall for me," He whispers to himself, shutting his eyes momentarily. "I'm the fall guy."

He reopens his eyes, pouncing narrowly out of the beam of sleeping magic.

Somehow he would make this right, and save his Lady.

He just had to avoid the beam.

"I will take you out too Chat Noir! I will have your Miraculous' and Paris will have a new leader!" He floats forward on the cloud, chasing Chat Noir around the courtyard.

As Chat runs, he formulates a plan that most likely won't work, as he is not Ladybug, but he'll try anything to stop this, and to see his Lady's blue eyes opened again.

So he darts back towards her, leaning forward and grabbing her yoyo as he passes, swerving left to avoid another beam.

"Cataclysm!" He shouts, dragging his hand along the banister, taking it down behind him.

He dashes up the stairwell, into Mr. Damocles office, and slams the door shut.

He's bought himself a few seconds at most he knew, but that was just enough.

"The akuma's got to be in his mask." He looks at the yoyo. "I need a miracle here Mari…I need to get you back…I need to save Paris."

And Night Mare bursts into the room, floating right through the wall, giving Chat barely enough time to swing out his baton in defense of the beam.

"Hiding, Kitty Cat?" Mare smirks, "I'm only trying to give you a well-deserved rest!" He raises his hand, and Chat backs away, swinging his baton.

But he doesn't shoot another beam, instead holding out…Ladybug's earrings.

"No…" He grasps the yoyo harder, a yoyo which is still there, and not gone with the power of the earrings, "No you're lying…"

The earrings vanish from his palm.

"For now, yeah, you've caught me. But soon, your worst nightmare will come true. I will destroy, _your Lady_. Right after I put the Kitty to sleep."

Chat rushes him before he can say more, dodging the beams and catching him off guard, snatching the mask right off of his face.

Connor's blue eyes widen as Chat steps away with the mask in hand, throwing it to the ground and breaking it under his feet.

"You shouldn't monologue. Haven't you ever seen _anything_?"

A dark violet akuma rises from the mask, and Chat presses into the yoyo, and swings, praying for a miracle.

"Time to de-evilize!" He shouts, closing his eyes and waiting for his failure to be realized, to fall under just as his Lady had, and never wake again.

But instead, a blinding white light appears beneath his eyelids, and he opens them to find a white butterfly floating away.

He stands there a moment in awe, before finally, he tosses the yoyo to the sky, screeching with joy, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

He's already halfway to his Lady as the power of the Miraculous cures all damage, and all the victims start to stir.

He kneels beside her just as her eyes flutter open, and she yawns.

"Nice cat nap, Bugaboo?" He smiles lightly, his heart constricting at the thought of never seeing those bluebell eyes again.

"Chat you-"

"I would never have given up," He finishes, taking her hand. She blushes, but stays quiet.

It still felt off, to feel such strong emotions towards Chat Noir, even now knowing he was Adrien, even now sensing all those things she loves about them both, to ever heightening frequencies.

She really wanted to return those feelings, to be with him. But while her heart said yes, her mind said that Paris would always come before her love for Chat/Adrien…She may never know how to deal with that, or how to possibly tell that to him, and break his heart.

She knew he was longing for the moment she'd give in to her heart, and set them free together.

She smiles, and sits up groggily.

"Pound it?" She holds out her fist awkwardly, hoping to ease the silence of the moment, the moment she knows he wants her to confess her feelings to him.

He sighs, but obliges.

"I should get out of here," As if on cue his ring beeps. "Don't want anyone else finding out who's behind these Kitty ears."

The hurt is clear in his voice.

She grabs his hand as he stands.

"Chat, I'm-"

"We can talk later, in the park or…" He trails off.

"At my place?" She asks. He nods, sliding his hand out of her grasp.

"Yeah, ok."

And he walks off, as she stands, watching him go.

She walks off in the opposite direction, and when in the complete privacy of the girl's locker room, she de-transforms.

"Tikki, how did he do it?" The red ladybug kwami floats up to meet her.

"I don't know Marinette, that's never been done before. Adrien…he performed a miracle today. _You're both very lucky_." Her tone sharpened towards the end.

"I'm so sorry Tikki, I just couldn't let him take the fall one more time on my behalf. I don't know what came over me-"

"I surely hope this is a one-time event," She pauses, softening, "Paris is at stake, you have to be more careful about your choices."

With that, Tikki floats back into Marinette's purse, and she walks out of the locker room, walking about halfway up the stairwell, and taking a seat, holding her knees up to her chest.

She'd made many mistakes today. The first and most serious being that she'd jeopardized the future of Paris by taking the sleep spell for Chat, knowing that he couldn't purify akumas himself.

The second being that once again she'd listened to her head, and rejected Chat without a word, stabbing him even deeper than she already had, since the moment they'd found out their identities.

" _You really want to know why we always win?" Chat smirked, hands on his hips. Ladybug sighed, nodding._

" _Sure, what's your Lucky Charm, Kitty?" He pulled out something from a hidden fold in his suit, and held out his closed palm._

" _You sure you ready? A friend gave this to me," He paused, thoughtful, "I guess she's also a bit of my Lucky Charm,"_

 _Ladybug rolled her eyes, "Oh just show me the trinket, Chat."_

 _He opened his palm, and Ladybug's jaw dropped._

 _He held the charm bracelet Marinette had given Adrien. A charm she had been given through the Cheng family line, from her mother, and grandmother before her._

 _He watched her reaction curiously, confused._

" _What, you didn't believe I really had a lucky charm? My Lady?"_

" _How could I be so oblivious…" Ladybug murmured, eyes wide. She finally looked at him, taking a deep breath. "Adrien?"_

" _Wh…" His voice falters, and his eyes travel back to the charm in his palm. He hadn't told anyone about the exchange between Marinette and him, he'd felt it a special moment between friends, a turning point in their relationship. There was only one way Ladybug could know who he was, based alone on the trinket in his hand._

" _Marinette?"_

 _She nods slowly, her lips parting in awe as she finally translates the truth._

 _Adrien is Chat Noir. The two boys in her life that she couldn't care for more…are one._

"Marinette?" She was taken out of her trance, her eyes meeting Adrien's. She doesn't smile, only imagining how much the gesture would tug more at her emotions. She thought about how much a smile could say about how she really felt for Adrien.

She took in his stance, his hand on the messenger bag's strap, tight, anxious. He stood unusually straight and still, but his face betrayed none of his true emotions.

"You, uh, ready to go?" He nods.

"Do you want to eat anything? Maybe we could get a smoothie on the way to your place?" He asks suddenly, almost out of nowhere.

He didn't know what kind of damage the akuma could've done to her. He didn't know exactly that he had reversed everything that'd happened, as he shouldn't have been able to do _anything_ at all.

He just wanted her to be ok.

"I'm fine, anyways my parents will want to know I'm alright, as soon as possible…" She watches his expression shift, "But if you want, I can ask my parents to bring something up for us while we talk," She adds quickly.

"Ok." He holds out his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, she takes it. They walk out of the school together, and head straight for Marinette's parents' bakery.

She notices as they walk that he continues to glance over at her. And her heart flutters, her grip tightening just a bit.

She can't allow herself to keep listening to her head. Her head itself was telling her that, when she took the bullet for Chat.

It was her warning, her heart keeps her alive. It keeps _them_ alive.

The moment her free hand touches the door frame of the bakery, Adrien let's her other hand drop. They walk in, in silence, false smiles plastered to their faces.

Tom is on the phone, probably speaking to a customer ordering.

Sabine is at the register, and sees Marinette right away.

"Oh, sweetie, I heard about the akuma at school again, are you alright?" She pauses, walking around the counter and pulling Marinette into a hug. She looks up at Adrien.

"Oh, Adrien, are you alright? You look famished! Maybe a roll or two?"

He smiles politely, as the two pull away from each other.

"Mama," Marinette sighs, reminding him of her tone when her parents offered them food while they practiced for the game tournament.

It was a while back, but one of his fondest memories will always be when she gave him that charm bracelet, the charm that helped him discover who his Lady was.

"Alright, you two can go right up," She nods back to the door, "And you can help yourself to anything in the kitchen," She whispers to Adrien with a wink as he passes.

The moment the door to Marinette's family home shuts behind them, the tension returns, all the way up to Marinette's room.

Once they arrive, he sits at her desk, and she takes a seat beside him.

Neither of them speak for a few minutes.

"I'm supposed to be your fall guy," He finally begins.

She meets his eyes, and pure fear crosses his expression.

"I couldn't just let you-"

"You _have_ to. Marinette this isn't just about me caring about you and taking the fall. This is about the fact that without you Paris is _doomed_. I can't do this without you, I can't do _anything_ without you." He pauses, "You've never done something like this, why did you today?"

His eyes are calculating her every motion, searching for any tell they can find.

She'd already had this conversation with Tikki.

She knows she let her partner down. She let her _friend_ down.

"I'm so sorry, but I just couldn't do it today…I looked you in the eyes, Adrien, and I just couldn't watch you fall again." Her voice rises. " _I always watch you fall. I'm always wondering if this is the last time you will, if when you do, it's all over._ "

"We can't let our feelings get in the way when we're Chat and Ladybug. We can't. If we do that, it's over for all of Paris. This isn't about us!" His voice shakes.

"Tell me you don't ever worry, Adrien. Tell me you don't ever worry that one day my Lucky Charm won't work, and I can't purify the akuma. Tell me you don't worry that I'll get hurt at some point, even without taking the fall for you. Tell me it hasn't _always_ been about us…"

"I can't lie to you."

"And I can't lie to you, not anymore." Her eyes well with tears, and his breath catches.

"Look, I shouldn't have blown up at you like this-"

"You're right…I let everyone down today, because of my own selfishness. From the start, I've tried to keep things professional at all costs, no matter how much I did like your puns and your jokes…And when I found out about you I put up even greater walls." She sniffs, wiping her eyes. Adrien takes her hand in his.

"What're you saying?"

"Some walls have to come down…And today was the final crack."

"Marinette I still don't understand," He whispers. She closes her eyes.

"I made a huge mistake that could've cost all of Paris today, and I'm so, _so_ sorry. But I'm selfish, Adrien…and I have to be honest with myself that I'm much sorrier that I kept you at arm's length all this time." She pauses, taking a deep breath. "I've been such a terrible partner and friend."

He smiles lightly, his eyes igniting with hope.

"My Lady, it's not selfish to think about you sometimes. Today was a mistake, but I was the one who kept pressuring you."

"Don't you dare put this on you, I was the one who bottled up my emotions and let them blow up today." She snaps.

"…I told you I'm your fall guy," He smirks. She can't help but smile, making his heart flutter.

All he wants is for her to be happy, and sure. He won't let her fall for him by force.

"Hey, Marinette?" He finds himself asking, calling her attention back to the seriousness of the moment. "Please tell me, you aren't telling me you care, only because of me? I don't want to force you into anything. And I'm so sorry if I'd made you feel bad for me, if I-"

"Adrien I told you I won't ever lie to you again. I do like you, a lot…We need to stop apologizing. What's done is done and in the past…." She trails off.

He nods, agreeing. "You're right. We need to stop blaming ourselves and each other. I'm just so happy I got you back, My Lady." He sighs.

She nods.

"I'm happy _we_ got _us_ back."


End file.
